A visit to South Africa, teamed with the travel challenge of making contemporary adornment with found objects only, resulted in two necklaces made from empty bullet cases.

I found the bullet cases in my dad's workshop, a retired engineer whose hobby as a gunsmith turned into a full-time career at the age of 58. He has a rather large collection of different sized bullets but I took a liking to the shapes of the .307 Winchester and .303 British.

My dad's hobby started around the time that I went to primary school so, having practically grown up with guns, I am comfortable around firearms and related paraphernalia. He does not use his guns for hunting and going target shooting would usually turn into quite the family affair. I thus felt it appropriate to photograph my mom wearing the bullet chain necklaces and in so doing share my experience of growing up with guns in a family environment.